to feel a bit naffed off at the people who did nothing

[Loveneverfails]

Basically,

there is only one shop in the place I live.

A property is being renovated just along from it.

On the way home today, we spotted an old man lying on the pavement (about 2pm), in between the shop and property.

His zimmer was beside him. It was clear he was in pain and the zimmer was broken.

We stopped the car and got out.

Clearly the old boy had had a tipple but equally clearly his zimmer was broken (one wheel sheered off and no where to be seen). He was in a dreadful state, smelly, dirty, on the pavement. Calm but still, on the pavement! Could say his name and where he lived and that he was just out of hospital with a broken hip.

Builders came out and said - we offered to get him up an hour ago he said no. They told me the local shop keep selling him booze when he toddles along for it.

People were walking past him and us and not saying a word ?!

AIBU to think he is a human being, was clearly in pain, was filthy and smelly (builders commented on it) and people should not be just walking on by . REALLY? they left him there because he didn't want help - could they not have called an ambulance?

We got an ambulance.

He was taken away. I think his hip may be broken again :(

We also arranged local district nurse to bring him a zimmer if he doesnt get one given to him in the hosp, and spoke with his GP.

Took about two hours of our time but I will sleep tonight!

I was also sad cos the builders were laughing taking pics of him on the pavement

I totally agree with you, it baffles me how people can show such disregard for the life and well being of another human being.
You did a good and lovely thing OP.
I'm another that will stop to help whenever possible (don't have a few kids with me), at the very least I'll phone the emergency services.
I've just had to replenish the first aid kit in my car and buy another blanket to keep in there as I stopped to assist at an accident. Old chap hadn't seen the signs and driven straight over a crossroads. All he could do was apologise for not having shaved that morning as I was stopping the blood from pouring down his face. Only one other lady stopped. Dozens of cars waiting for the road to be cleared but not one other person got out to help.

I closed my finger in the car door at the weekend. You can imagine the squeal I gave. People just looked at me like how dare

Sorry too soon!
Like how dare you scream in a public place. People in space beside me got got, I was leaning against car in tears holding out the finger, & they just looked at me like I was mad. Not a serious injury I know, but I'd at least have asked the person if they needed help.

I have enough of my fair share of dealing with my mother who got herself in equally distressing situations and did absolutely nothing to assist herself in recovering. In fact she drank herself to death. I was told by her alcohol support worker that we had to let her hit rock bottom, let her wake up covered in blood and vomit in order for her to realise the cold hard truth.

I got shit from my uncles for doing this, but eventually they stopped doing it too.

I can spot a drunk a mile off, there is no way I would assist one. They got themselves in that state, I can't bear to be around drunks I actually shake with a mixture of fear/anger because you never know if they are nasty drunks. My knife wielding mother liked to have a go at strangers who tried to help.

That said I would absolutely help anyone not under the influence of booze/narcotics.

Zippey have you never been drunk before? I'd like to think if I ever got drunk and fell over and broke my leg and was too confused to know what I was saying that someone with more sense would come along and help me and get me an ambulance. Not just think oh well she's drunk she deserves to die in a gutter. Shocking. Absolutely shocking.
Thank goodness Zippey is in the minority on this thread.

YANBU.

I admire people who take the time to help others.

People who take the time to help others then go on and on and on about it, milking it for all its worth then claimaing they can still see the poor cold freezing ill frail man on the floor in their minds eye- not so much

"I can spot a drunk a mile off, there is no way I would assist one."

Even an old man who had just come out of hospital? Would you have just left him there in the rain?

I do understand up to a point where you are coming from as we have alcoholism in the family, but I wouldn't have just left this old man to die.

You really think you can spot the difference between someone who is having a bad hypo and a drunk?

A nice person called an ambulance for me when I was pissed as a fart and had an asthma attack, after my not-so-nice boyfriend had been nasty to me and stomped off.

Being pissed isn't always the defining part of a person or their situation.

I would not ignore - I would have phoned for an ambulance too.

Why would anyone walk by and not do anything? Even if the guy HAD been abusive/too drunk to care, at least YOU know you have done what you can to ensure that person is ok.

I remember calling an ambulance from work once - I had gone to the filing cabinet to get some paperwork, and was idly looking out of the window. I saw a woman come out of a shop and fall over. She stayed on the floor.
Nobody took any notice of her.
I went to my desk and phoned an ambulance.
The operator was only doing his job I know but I was quite frustrated by his questions as I was on the 8th floor, and the woman was on the floor outside a shop on the opposite side of the road.
After about ten minutes, someone came out of the shop and sat with the woman until the ambulance arrived.

y'know a 16 year old locally 'fell' off a flyover here recently. He must have been walking on the road as the flyover has no footpath, there is a pedestrian bridge underneath so he had no need to be there. It haunts me that no one passing him thought it odd and stopped just to check he was ok, lost, or in distress, they may have prevented what happened. we are a nation of selfish fuckers tbh.

Love something very similar happened a few weeks ago outside one of the places I work.

City centre, busy crossing. I was getting a coffee before work and noticed legs sticking out from behind a low wall. People passing, and, given the area, I knew it was a hang out for drinkers. But I stopped and knelt down and asked him if he was ok and phoned an ambulance.

I was not leaving a person lying in the street. Once I stopped with him other people did too, a local hairdressers across the street sent a young man out with an umbrella to keep us dry. I was glad other people stopped to help then because, I was really scared actually, and other people taking notice helped me to be calm and answer the questions on the phone and by the paramedic later.

The man I helped seemed fine by the time the actual ambulance got there and I was reassured. A week later the ambulance service called to say he wanted to get in touch to say thank you. Turns out it was something very serious and my stopping might have saved his life.

I like to think someone else would have stopped but no way at all would I have ignored him because what if? Someone being very aggressive, or where you are worried helping would put you in danger (thinking of jumping in rivers etc) but someone collapsed in the street?

Love I admire you for what you did, especially so because I know how bloody scary stepping up can be. And you never know if you can, or will, until it happens.

Btw lots of nurses on here - my mum & sis are nurses, maybe I would have helped in any case, but that underlying sense of it being the right thing to do, as engendered by their work, I think must have had some impact. It certainly helped me know what to do before I started to feel too scared to do anything.

Loveneverfails, you did the right and reasonable thing. I am horrified that people didn't help and disgusted that they would stop to take photos but not offer any help.

Really, no one is ever THAT busy that they can't stop.

obviously not all of us as demonstrated by this thread to some extent.

I can tell the difference between drunk and not drunk. I've been drunk before and I wouldn't blame anyone for not helping me in my drunken stupor. Honestly, you are setting yourself up for a whole world of pain if you start helping drunks.

I might have helped a non drunk older person who had fallen over though.

I also don't believe in karma.

Zippey - Being too pissed to care doesn't protect you from dying from your injuries - would you really not be bothered about that? Or are you saying that you wouldn't help someone who would be too drunk to appreciate your efforts? Surely that's not why you help people?

Also, I would say that the bystander effect is an explanation, not an excuse, and you should be able to avoid succumbing to it if you are aware of it, so not even an explanation in your case.

I once twisted my ankle and fell over. The twist was Very bad (the whole foot went blue afterwards) but it was a Friday evening (at 6.40pm ..) and I was just going in the pub.
I stayed for ages on the floor as the pain was do bad but even the waiter took a long time to come and see how I was. And then quite some time again to realise I wasn't drink at all. I had just fallen over.

It seems that the rule is 'if the person looks drink, just leave them to be and ignore' maybe because so many drink people are very aggressive??

You can also die from being drunk...

So it seems that yes being drunk (or just possibly being drunk) = not worthy of help

In which works are we living :(:(

Are you sure you are not exaggerating just a bit? I mean if you saw a dr walk by, why didn't you call to them for help and say you were waiting for an ambulance for the man? And how on earth did you manage to speak to his GP and the district nurse?

Really Zippey? You can tell the difference between someone who smells of alcohol and is behaving oddly/slurring who is having a hypo and a drunk?

Very impressive.

If they look aggressive you talk loudly from a distance , or make a phone call, though.

Particularly if they are aggressive, its a situation that can't be left.

You did the right thing, OP. I would have done it, too. I'm an "interferer" by some people's standards Those will be the same people who actually refused to make a phone call when a woman collapsed in the rain, at rush hour, and I was simply asking them to ring an ambulance. And the ones who shouted at me, all concerned, to "leave him alone, he's drunk" when an elderly man fell on the edge of a Tube platform.

They were not just failing to help, they actively tried to stop me helping. The absolute bastards. Thank goodness for people who've helped me when I needed it, and for all the other humans out there. The rest of you - well, you might think you're human; I doubt it.

I had a friend who died from a fall on a drunken night out many years ago.

He didn't deserve to die simply for being drunk.

OP you might also think about reporting the shop to the licensing authorities as they should absolutely not be selling booze to an already pissed person.